Stanford guard Ros Gold-Onwude was surrounded by her teammates at the north end of Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal was readying to play UCLA in an important Pac-10 women’s basketball game on a stormy Thursday evening. Gold-Onwude lit into her team like Knute Rockne used to do back in the day when Notre Dame was the No. 1 football team in the nation.
“What we have done so far hasn’t been enough,” bellowed Gold-Onwude, one of three seniors on the No. 2-ranked Cardinal. “We have to start strong and finish strong.”
What Gold-Onwude said must have worked. The Cardinal opened with an 11-2 run, one of its best starts of the year. The pesky Bruins hung around for a half, down just four points, before Stanford rolled to a 74-53 win. Senior center Jayne Appel had a lot to do with the “rolling” part. Appel played like the All-American she is, just in time for Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.
“That was the old Jayne out there,” VanDerveer beamed. “She delivered.”
There had been talk in the local papers about Appel being slowed by an infection in her left foot. Infection? My foot! Appel should get her foot infected more often the way she played.
“I hope Jayne’s other foot is infected (tomorrow),” VanDerveer quipped.
Bruins coach Nikki Caldwell, a rough-hewn defender in her playing days at Tennessee in the early 1990s, was unaware of any infection. However, Caldwell did admit Appel’s play was infectious for the Cardinal.
“Jayne’s play was very solid,” Caldwell said. “She established herself, she attacked and she did a great job of positioning herself. She did her work beforehand.”
Appel and fellow Cardinal bigs Kayla Pedersen and Nneka Ogwumike were responsible for the Bruins getting into serious foul trouble in both halves. The Bruins’ Christina Nzekwe fouled out trying to guard Appel, though the fifth foul was a cheapie at best as Nzekwe was stationed behind Appel with her hands up.
The game took a turn for the bizarre when Appel was ejected with 7:41 to play after she was ruled to have committed a flagrant foul on UCLA’s Jasmine Dixon. Appel gathered one of her 13 rebounds and was immediately trapped. She used her elbow to clear some space and Dixon’s noggin just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A late-night Pac-10 ruling allowed Appel to play in Sunday’s game against USC.
Appel’s season-high 23 points was an encouraging sign for VanDerveer, who waited patiently all season for the “old Jayne” to materialize. Appel ran the floor with aplomb and with whomever else would run with her. She called for the ball and was decisive once she got it in a 7-for-12 shooting performance. And when she got to the line, she made the Bruins pay, netting 9 of 12 free throws. Appel added two assists and three blocks, giving her 254 blocks for her career.
Gold-Onwude continued her fine play, knocking down 14 points with three assists. She is steadily learning to play with pressure, which will put her in good stead when tourney time beckons.
Thanks to Cal’s 61-55 win over USC, the Cardinal is in better shape than Popeye after he powers down a can of spinach. Stanford’s lead in the Pac-10 race is three games with the Trojans visiting Sunday. The Cardinal, 10-0 with eight conference games remaining, hosts first- and second-round NCAA games with a regional happening in not-so-far-away Sacramento.
Time for seniors to step up and do some leading. Looks like they are.
E-mail John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.
